


Mirror Images

by Unquietlibrarian



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Family, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mirror of Erised, Post-Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Spoilers, Very fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 10:27:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18281168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unquietlibrarian/pseuds/Unquietlibrarian
Summary: Set directly at the end of COG. Newt and Tina need a few minutes apart from everyone to deal with their grief. They find a perplexing mirror. Fluff ensues.





	Mirror Images

Newt is relieved to see Tina instantly, as he steps through the doorway of Dumbledore’s office. After searching for her so desperately, after yesterday… He resented having to leave her on that bridge even for a moment. Not to mention Theseus and Jacob. Studying her face, he sees resolute composure, determination. So much that if he were Grindelwald he would be afraid right now. He wonders how much longer she can be strong. 

Dumbledore asked him to summon everyone into his office so they could discuss their next steps. Newt doesn’t even look around. He approaches her, and after some hesitation, glances up and asks “how are you, Tina?” 

Her chin wobbles for a moment before her facade becomes stony again. She doesn’t think she can do this. The temptation to burst into tears and bare it all to him is too much now that she knows he cares. “I’m fine, Newt… What’s next?” 

“We are all about to discuss that. He wants everyone inside,” he gestures awkwardly to the doorway. She doesn’t hesitate, brushing by him as if one more moment talking with him would overwhelm her. 

His fingers reach out lightly to grasp her wrist as she rushes by him. She freezes, and he can feel her hand shaking. He looks at her, and waits for her eyes to catch his. Accepting her defeat, she finally looks at him. 

Newt can see the tears pooling in her eyes. “Why don’t we go for a walk instead? I’ve already spoken with Dumbledore, they can fill us in...”

And with that, throwing Jacob a significant look over his shoulder, he leads her away down the corridor. He doesn’t pause to see the incredulous look Theseus gives him. 

Tina lets him lead her, not caring where they go. She just hopes they reach their destination quickly. Her tears are blurring her vision. 

He wishes they were here under happier circumstances, there are places he would like to take her. But not now. Not in the shadow of everything they’ve been through in the past 24 hours. 

He can tell that she needs somewhere private to break down. Meandering into the heart of the castle, he chooses an empty classroom he used to frequent. He was expert at finding hidden places in school, where no one could hurt his creatures, where he could be himself with them. And Leta, of course. But he finds thoughts of her much too painful at the moment.

He pushes the door open, “in here, Tina”. She complies, without even the slightest curiosity. She knows he understands, is searching for a sequestered place for her to mourn for a few minutes. The door clicks shut. 

Newt glances at her nervously. She turns her face away, not ready to let him see her cry. Respectfully, he goes to stand at the window, and begins drumming his fingers on the brick. He does his best to shut out the memories of Leta that the beautiful grounds bring to mind. Tears slip off his nose, for himself, for his brother, his childhood best friend, for the Salamander-eyed witch crying on the other side of the room. 

Tina finds the corner farthest from Newt and sinks to the floor. A large mirror obscures his view of her, and she does her best to hide behind it. Her forehead hits her knees, and stays there for several minutes. 

She keeps reminding herself that he is hurting too. He lost someone he cared about. Queenie didn't even die. Newt may need her, and she wants to be there for him. When she grows tired of self-pity, she stands, ready to give him whatever he needs. 

The mirror divides the room between them, and she must walk by it to get to him. It is grand, old, and looks like it was made to stand in a castle. She wonders what she would look like reflected in it, in fact what does she look like at all right now? When was the last time she looked in a mirror? Definitely before she slept in a sewer. 

She expects a tired, red-eyed, dirty witch in the glass, but even at first glance she can tell there is more than that reflected. She blinks quickly, forcing her eyes to work properly. At least a dozen people blink back at her. What’s broken, her eyes or her brain, she wonders with alarm.

Her parents stand to her left side, beaming with pride- she feels a rush of love for them, it’s been too many years since she saw those smiles. How could she have forgotten the crinkles at the corners of her father's eyes? Her mother’s dimples? She scans the remainder of the mirror’s inhabitants. She is shocked to see that in the center, she is standing with one arm around Newt. Each of them is holding what appears to be one of their children. A baby boy of several months on Tina’s hip, and a girl of a few years clinging to Newt. She glances around the edge of the mirror, hoping he can’t see her. 

“They look just like him”, she thinks to herself reverently. Their daughter is beaming at Newt, batting her lashes as if he is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. Tina is rather inclined to agree, and almost giggles. She never realized how powerful it would be to see her own children. She never thought she would have children. “They aren’t real,” she reminds herself desperately. But even remembering that unfortunate truth can’t stop the adoration, pride, and heartache she feels as she studies them hungrily. 

On Newt’s other side are Queenie and Jacob with their four children. Three boys and a girl. Such a beautiful family. Oh, how she wishes Queenie were here to see this. But wishing won’t bring Queenie back.

Hot shame and dread wash over her as she realizes that her sister and Jacob may not have that future anymore. And that it’s at least partially her fault for pushing Queenie into the arms of a madman.. Suddenly, breathing isn’t as easy as it was. 

“Newt.” She wants him beside her, needs him to ground her. Needs him to unscramble this hauntingly beautiful vision she’s a witness to and translate it into existence for her. It would fix everything.

Newt is troubled by her expression as he approaches. She seems to be looking into a mirror, but it’s hard to tell until he comes around to her side. She looks distressed. 

She appreciates how quickly he is next to her. Did he apparate? She hears him gasp softly as he sees into the mirror for the first time. 

He doesn’t know what he expects to see, other than the two of them blinking back at him. But Merlin, that isn’t what materializes in the glass at all.

He and Tina are there, but the castle walls behind them, quintessentially Hogwarts, are nowhere to be seen. They are in his case, perhaps even his basement. How he’d love to take her there, he thinks. They are sitting on a hill in the mooncalf enclosure with empty buckets by their feet. He has an arm around her, and they are happily watching the vision below them. At the base of the hill, three children chase a family of nifflers. 

“How fitting,” he thinks with a smile. Their children chasing nifflers. They look just like Tina, pale with beautiful dark eyes, laughing gleefully. He’ll never be able to forget seeing this, them. Oh, the future he and Tina could have had if that magazine hadn’t ruined everything, if blue flames hadn’t turned his hopes to ash. He wonders what she must think of all this. 

Quietly, she takes his hand. He is brought back to the real world, to stare at her with eyes as big as saucers. He’s holding her hand! 

“Do you see this too?” she asks quietly. His heart fills with tenderness and he nods. She deflates, her relief apparent. They look back into the mirror, longing to watch, as if memorizing the images will breathe life into them. 

Tina’s eyes fill with tears as she watches her little boy proudly give her a generous baby kiss. Beside her, her mother laughs affectionately, then leans in to receive a kiss of her own from her grandson.

Newt squeezes her hand, giving her a look that grounds her firmly next to him. She sighs. 

“People tell us that I took after our father, and Queenie resembles our mother.” 

She meets his eyes for a moment, and she can see the confusion written on them. His gaze flickers back to the mirror, searching quickly. 

“Tina, I- I don’t see… them…. In the mirror.”

Her eyebrows leap for her hairline. “Who do you see, then?” her voice cracking a bit. 

He seems sheepish, nervous, and won’t meet her gaze when he says, “Well, I see us. In my basement with the creatures. That’s where I keep them when they aren’t in the case, see.” 

His intonation makes it obvious that there is more. “Is that all?” she asks. 

He seems to be choosing his next words carefully. “No. No, there are...other people with us as well.” 

She isn’t sure he feels comfortable telling her, though she thinks she knows who he sees. Her mind whirs, looking for a question that would allow him only to share what he wants... “Do we know them?” she asks. 

He takes a deep breath. “In the mirror, yes, we do… but not in reality, they aren’t alive yet.” 

Tina exhales knowingly. She sees them too. They aren’t alive- yet. Her heart melts when he adds that qualification. She turns away from the mirror to face him. His body immediately mirrors hers without even realizing it. 

She reaches her free hand up to cup his face, stroking his freckled cheek with her thumb. “I see the children too,” she whispers with a soft smile.

He looks almost as relieved as he did last night when she’d finished his sentence with the word “salamanders.” In fact, so much about this moment calls up that scene. She does what she should have done then, leaning in to kiss his other cheek. He doesn’t flinch or move away, thankfully. When she shyly looks at him again, his mouth is slightly open. He seems to be struggling to form a coherent thought.. Adorable, she thinks as her cheeks turn pink. 

He is frozen. It seems impossible to force air into his lungs and out again. How? This time yesterday their interactions couldn’t have contrasted more, when she was still obstinately calling him ‘Mr. Scamander’ and bolting whenever he got too close. He chances a glance at her, hoping she can see the adoration written on his face. Can he ask her to do it again? Did he do what she wanted? Is he staring? How long has it been since he said anything? Oh dear, he needs to say something. 

“What- erghm- What do you see?” he asks, gesturing to the mirror. She faces it again, but his hand stubbornly holds on to hers. He immediately misses the heat of her body across from his, the closeness of her face, her salamander eyes watching him. 

“I see my parents... We are next to them, I’m holding a baby boy and you’re holding a little girl” she whispers, almost inaudibly. He squeezes her hand encouragingly. “Queenie and Jacob are on the other side of us, and they have four children. Everyone is smiling and facing forward like it’s a… family portrait.”

He hears her voice break on the word ‘family’. He removes his fingers from hers to wrap an arm around her tentatively. 

She rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. “Do you think it shows us a future that could have happened if…. if things had been different?” 

Newt’s heart sinks as he considers this. He doesn’t want to admit, no he can’t give up hope for the future that he sees in the mirror. He wildly hopes that she hasn’t either. Given up on what he sees, that is. He’s sure she must have wanted something like that at some point, what with her being able to see their children too. What a puzzling mirror they’ve discovered.

She can almost hear him deliberating, his thoughts whirring, as he considers this for longer than she expected him to. 

“No, I don’t… perhaps it shows us what would make us the most happy?” 

When she looks up at him, there are tears in the corners of her eyes. Her expression inspires an act of bravery on his part, and he opens his arms, inviting her into an embrace. She slowly steps towards him, snaking her arms around his waist and leaning in. His arms tighten around her. His breath is taken away as he relishes how good it feels to hold her, how right, how long overdue, how difficult it would be to live without even a day for the rest of his life.

She is safe in his arms for mere seconds before she finally breaks. “Oh Newt, I’ve lost everything… Queenie is gone, and it’s all my fault that- that she and Jacob will never be able to have what I see.... and she felt so desperate that she joined HIM. How could she have even thought?... I don’t understand” she buries deeper into his shoulder, weeping. 

“Even after my parents died I always had her. But now I have no one... I want my family back. I miss her so much...and being part of a family.”

He feels his heart breaking as she bares her pain to him. Guilt rises from his stomach like bile. He left her alone to face all of this. Even added to her anguish. Why should she feel anything for him when all he has done is hurt her? 

Newt holds her to his shoulder, fingers cupping her long, beautiful neck. It reminds him of a unicorn. White, pure, unblemished. Like a unicorn, she gives light to all who lay eyes on her. Queenie was right, she is a giver. He runs fingers through her hair, and lets his tears disappear into it. 

She spent months imagining what it would feel like to be held in his arms, but nothing prepared her for the real thing. It is a comfort she hasn’t felt since childhood, and it soothes her. When her sobs subside, he slips his fingers under her chin, lifting it so that she is looking into his eyes. Salamanders. A soul full of fire. He believes in her like he believes in the sun. 

“Oh Tina, I’m so sorry,” he says, hugging her to him again. “I’m so sorry that you’ve been so alone in facing all of this, and that you’ve had to carry this burden. But it isn’t your fault that Queenie left, you did your best and she made her choices. She will see that you did everything you did because you love her. We will get her back, I promise.”

He gulps, collecting himself. “Tina, I haven’t been there for you the way I should have been. The way I want to be-.”

“Only because I pushed you away. I’m so sorry Newt, I should have been brave and asked you if the magazine was true, I should-”

He cuts her off, “No Tina, you’ve absolutely nothing to apologize for. I should have made myself and my feelings more clear.” 

She looks up at him. Her salamander eyes find his, they are a mirror image of what he feels. Love, adoration, terror. He finds the fire in her eyes and lets it engulf him, willing himself to continue. 

“I would never be so presumptuous as to assume that this would make you feel even mildly better…. But you aren’t alone Tina. That is if you don’t want to be. You will have me for as long as you want me. And- And, and… Jacob. And my creatures. We all care for you very much.” he finishes, self consciously. 

Tina smiles a smile full of heart. It’s as if the pain she bore to him a few moments ago has been muted, dimmed, drowned out by a happy ringing in her ears. She understands, despite his awkwardness and fear of her rejection, what he is trying to say to her. 

She slides her fingers under his chin, mimicking what he did to her just moments ago, forcing him to look at her. She tries to ebb away at his fear with her eyes, perhaps he can understand just from looking into them. Her thumb absently rubs his jawline as she asks, “Newt, what you see in the mirror… is that… what you want?” She can’t keep her voice from breaking as she finishes, looking at him with anticipation she swears she’s never felt so intensely before. 

His eyes are filled with tears. “Yes Tina.” He sniffs and his tears fall. A sigh of relief escapes her, one she was unaware of holding in. She wipes his tears away, disregarding the ones leaking from her own eyes. “A life with you is what I want most in the world”.

A smile splits her face. Has she ever felt quite this way before? She feels like spinning in circles and screaming. She leans her forehead against his, and exhales a noise that could be a laugh or sob, they aren’t sure which. “Newt-”

“Tina, can I kiss you?” 

They speak at the same time. She doesn’t answer, but giggles for a moment more as she tentatively leans in. His lips meet hers, unsure at first, but firm. She feels dizzy, drunk as she kisses him back. The kiss deepens and their confidence increases. 

“This is bliss,” she thinks. “Nothing else in the world matters.”

Newt can taste Tina’s tears, feel her smile against his mouth. Yesterday he told her that her cursing Thes was the best moment of his life, but it’s only been a day and that moment has been surpassed. He wonders if every day with Tina could create a new best moment of his life. His hands are on her waist pulling her to him as if he could never be close enough. Could he ever be close enough? He rather doubts it. 

Tina is almost numb with happiness. He wants her. He wants to be with her, wants a life with her, wants a future with her. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that Newt, the best-hearted person she has ever met, could feel this way about her. She recalls what he sees when he looks in the mirror and her heart buzzes again. Can she even dare to hope that those things will happen one day? 

Newt is breaking the kiss, and she comes back to the moment. “Tina, I know it doesn’t feel right to be... happy with everything that’s happened today. With- what with Theseus- and, and Jacob… but I must ask anyways because we have to understand each other, I need you to understand me from now on because I can’t lose you. Not again… Tina Goldstein, if I may ask, will you allow me the honor of courting you?” 

She giggles and says cheekily “well, we have to start somewhere if we are going to make all of those big dreams come true.” 

He blushes, and chances a look into her eyes. She can’t imagine a pair of more earnest and loving eyes. So multi-colored, so deep she is sure she could drown in them. And their owner is hers, finally hers. 

Taking her in his arms again, he whispers “I meant what I said, Tina, you will not be alone from this moment on. I will be your family, along with Jacob and Queenie when we get her back. We will get her back.” 

He can feel her smile softly into his neck. He can’t help but close his eyes and smile with her. 

“And then one day, can we have what we see in the mirror? Our own family? I want to be part of a family again more than anything, Newt.” 

He keeps his eyes shut, remembering the way their children laughed as they chased the nifflers, the peace evident on Tina’s face. He wants to give her that, give her the world. Everything she wants. He smiles.

“Of course, love. When we’re ready… Or whenever you would like,” he says as he kisses her hair. 

Her face turns beet red buried in his shoulder, and Newt cringes as he realizes the implications of what he has just said. 

“I wish we could stay here” she whispers a few minutes later. “When we go back upstairs, there is still a war to fight. And enough heartache to go around.”

He hums his agreement. “Yes, there is. But we will fight it together. We have something beautiful to fight for”

She presses his forehead to his one last time, squeezing her eyes shut and kissing him sweetly, before breaking away. “We’d better go Mr. Scamander, I believe we are late for a meeting.” 

She takes his hand, and leads him back through the doorway, back into a world about to brim with chaos. They leave with a promise, like a ray of sunshine, or a wisp of hair tucked affectionately behind an ear on a dock. A promise that peace and happiness are in store for them, and that they can slowly begin giving each other the things they want the most.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I have always been intrigued by the idea of two people looking into the Mirror of Erised at the same time, and Newt and Tina were just made to do it. I felt guilty setting this right at the end of COG with everything that happened, but I did it anyways. I found the end of COG pretty odd, they all looked ready to go to war standing there on the bridge, and no one really looked very sad, with the possible exception of Jacob. With the time jump in the next film, I could see the Newtina relationship progressing very quickly. Which is fine, as long as it isn't progressed off-screen. I swear if their first kiss isn't on-screen... Anyways, this is really quite fluffy, almost shamelessly so. But they're sweet and I think they deserve it. Feel free to leave ~gentle hah~ comments about the work, Newtina, or whatever tickles your fancy.


End file.
